T. Mimori, Autoantibodies in connective tissue diseases: Clinical significance and analysis of target autoantigens, INTERN MED, 38(7), 1999, pp. 523-532
Systemic connective tissue diseases are characterized by the production of
a number of autoantibodies directed against various cellular constituents.
These autoantibodies are closely associated with certain diseases and clini
cal manifestations, and are therefore useful for clinical practice such as
to diagnose diseases and to predict clinical subsets, disease activity and
prognosis. To understand the etiology and pathogenic mechanisms of connecti
ve tissue diseases; it is particularly important to elucidate the structure
and function of target autoantigens recognized by these disease-specific a
utoantibodies. In recent years, the nature of many target autoantigens have
been identified using molecular biology approaches. Most of them are intra
cellular enzymes and regulatory factors necessary for important biological
function involved in gene replication, transcription, RNA processing and pr
otein translation. Thus, the studies of autoantibodies are useful not only
in clinical medicine but also in basic cellular and molecular biology.